A screw conveyor, also known as an auger conveyor, employs a rotating blade in a helical shape. The helical blade is referred to as a flighting. The flighting is typically contained within a cylinder, often called an auger tube. As the flighting rotates within the cylinder, it is able to move materials, including, for example, liquids, granular materials, etc. A very well-known application is a grain auger, which is used to move grains.
Traditional screw conveyors employ roller bearings which incorporate a seal within the bearing. The bearing is mounted directly to the auger tube. This often results in dirt, moisture, and/or materials moved in the auger tube being forced into the bearing. This causes the bearing to fail. A further problem with roller bearings is that they are only designed to withstand radial forces. When traditional roller bearings are subjected to directional forces, they ultimately will break. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,109 disclosed a traditional screw conveyor employing roller bearings; however, the design, and in particular the use of roller bearings, weakened the design when the roller bearings were subjected to directional forces. In an effort to overcome the problems associated with roller bearings, attempts have been made at employing tapered bearings. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,177 disclosed a drive mechanism employing tapered bearings. However, the drive mechanism was mounted directly on the auger tube, which caused this design to suffer from a number of problems. First, the direct mounting to the auger tube made it too rigid of a configuration resulting in stress on the flighting, which eventually causes the flighting to break. Furthermore, the direct mounting to the auger tube necessitates that the seal is mounted inside the auger tube, which results in dirt, grain, and moisture penetrating the dust cap and interfering with the bearings, ultimately causing the bearings to fail.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the claimed invention to develop a screw conveyor that overcomes the aforementioned deficiencies in the state of the art. In particular, it is an objective of the present invention to develop and employ bearings capable of withstanding both radial and directional forces.
A further object of the invention is to provide a sealing device that is separated from the bearing housing and not contained within the bearings.
A further object of the invention is to provide a screw conveyor with an improved coupler